Alabama freshman defensive back Ga'Quincy "Kool-Aid" McKinstry will initially become one of the highest-profile athletes to enter into an agreement. In fact, SkyBox Sports was already selling his NFT for $750 by Wednesday afternoon. (SkyBox later claimed that was a test page. Later in the day, the price had been removed.) Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a form of collective cryptocurrency. Think of them as certificates of authenticity for digital assets or collectible electronic trading cards.
SkyBox CEO Derrick Thomas, 30, played college basketball at Drexel in Philadelphia. During his senior year in 2013, he created an online platform to help athletes in the agent dealings. Thomas gave those players a "scorecard" on the agents they were meeting.
This is a big deal because McKinstry was 247Sports' No. 1-ranked cornerback in the Class of 2021. He has yet to play a snap for the Crimson Tide.
For mere mortals, NFTs have been hard to explain. Don't expect the process to become any easier. "Think of it as a ticket, but it's not a ticket," Thomas explained, "a piece that tells his story in art form, takes a snapshot of his life. When NFT holders collect this, they are granted access to his experience."
Language was removed from the website advertising
McKinstry's NFT, which said buyers receive "admission to an Alabama home game from Kool-Aid's personal tickets" along with a meet and greet with Kool-Aid (autographs, photos) after the game. Buyers will be able to run drills with McKinstry in the offseason.
No word on what Alabama coach Nick Saban thinks of that.
"Where we see the true value is the players are getting the majority of the revenue," Thomas said. "The athletes own the value they create."
Unprecedented times are ahead for athletes, starting with the biggest college sports stars
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